In terms of intellectual infleunces it would be Michael Huemer, Leonard Peikoff, Bryan Caplan, Scott Alexander and David Friedman. Although I think it changes all the time and in terms of my general life, I wouldn't know where to start.

I'm very impressed by your choices. Up to this day, I'd never have considered you as an actually thinking entity. I'm still pondering if this means that you're really just an impostor, or if these dudes weren't as great as I think they are/were. Or if I might have been wrong, and we just draw very different conclusions based on the very same principles. The latter seems terrifying

Yeah, I am imposting on a random gaming forum. I am a Turk, and a C++ programmer. First three should be justified at this point, Hopfield Networks have a distinct side compared to other Neural Network types, that is, it has philosophical implications, meaning stupid entities can bunch up and achieve greater things. The topics in CS covering Alan Turing and Gauss made me realize how ignorant I was back in undergrad. When I was studying statistical topics we use in pattern recognition, I was shocked how widespread Gaussian was, effectively making ma a materialist.

Anyway, you thinking me not being a thinking entity is an observation problem on your end.

I was told a long time ago, that if you look on someone's book shelf, and could pick at least five of the most common authors, that could tell you everything you needed to know about a person.

I am not really much of a purist in that sense, but I do believe there are some truly very influential people in through time, that although I wouldn't consider a HERO, I would say have had the greatest impact on me.

You haven't heard about anyone on my list, because my list is literally everyday people close to me. So I do not think this thread as stated makes a lot of sense. That said, there are a lot of famous people that have influenced my perspective greatly. Which would have been a much better thread topic.

When I grew up I had a terrible anger. When I got angry, I got so angry that .. the best picture I can paint is that I channeled mana, anime super saiyan style. I was tempered only by the fact that I was (and still am) extremely weak. Today they would call it some four letter syndrome or something and supress it with medication. But that's just some silly letters making an excuse for poor behaviour. Anger is manageable. And at some point I decided that no matter what I would not get uncontrollably angry again. I was literally scared of what I would do when I lost it. Ever since, I have held my temper, refusing to ever lose control.

But the fear was still there. I started to cherish the fact that I was weak. Even if I did lose it, I couldn't do much damage. I was literally beaten by kids years younger than me in school, and this turned into bullying - but I had no desire to change that fact. I did not want to "toughen up". I did not want to "deal what I got", even though I knew I could. It was more important for me to not win through force. I did not want to go back to being the person who could do that.

Instead, I started using my mind as a weapon. Talk my way out of issues. The pacifist way. I read about Gandhi. I read about Arnulf Øverland. I read about Martin Luther King Jr. I read about the Dalai Lama. I read about Nelson Mandela. The people may not be the ideals, but the ideals they stand for is something that shaped my way of thinking more than anything. I refuse to believe there isn't a problem that cannot be solved through peaceful means. It's just harder.

You haven't heard about anyone on my list, because my list is literally everyday people close to me. So I do not think this thread as stated makes a lot of sense. That said, there are a lot of famous people that have influenced my perspective greatly. Which would have been a much better thread topic.

When I grew up I had a terrible anger. When I got angry, I got so angry that .. the best picture I can paint is that I channeled mana, anime super saiyan style. I was tempered only by the fact that I was (and still am) extremely weak. Today they would call it some four letter syndrome or something and supress it with medication. But that's just some silly letters making an excuse for poor behaviour. Anger is manageable. And at some point I decided that no matter what I would not get uncontrollably angry again. I was literally scared of what I would do when I lost it. Ever since, I have held my temper, refusing to ever lose control.

But the fear was still there. I started to cherish the fact that I was weak. Even if I did lose it, I couldn't do much damage. I was literally beaten by kids years younger than me in school, and this turned into bullying - but I had no desire to change that fact. I did not want to "toughen up". I did not want to "deal what I got", even though I knew I could. It was more important for me to not win through force. I did not want to go back to being the person who could do that.

Instead, I started using my mind as a weapon. Talk my way out of issues. The pacifist way. I read about Gandhi. I read about Arnulf Øverland. I read about Martin Luther King Jr. I read about the Dalai Lama. I read about Nelson Mandela. The people may not be the ideals, but the ideals they stand for is something that shaped my way of thinking more than anything. I refuse to believe there isn't a problem that cannot be solved through peaceful means. It's just harder.

You have had an interesting journey so far, amazing sources.

Yeah pacifism I think takes a strength and intelligence the world might not be ready for. It takes strength to let go of hate. In the case of MLK, the first time I had ever heard of him was when I think I was 5, and it was of course during his holiday and hearing the stories of how he died.

Terrified me to think because of the color of your skin, and your ideas you could be hated that much people would want to kill you. I think it's easier to say what you would kill for, and harder to say what you are willing to die for.

"Intellect alone is useless in a fight...you can't even a break rule, how can you be expected to break bone" Khan Singh

Oh trust me, cheese wasn't invented it was discovered. Everyone around said this: You did what to a cow? and then you left it out for a month it went solid and then you ate it?

Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.
Aristotle